Destine (The Watcher's Trilogy) (24 page)

I looked down and there lay Scarlett pinned to the ground with a sword through her chest
.
I was about to collapse to the ground in relief when I remembered Gabriel
.
Leaving Scarlett still pinned to the ground by the sword
,
I rushed over to Gabriel’s side
.
He was so still I was terrified he was dead
.
I lifted his head and cradled it in my lap
.
Suddenly there was a second blinding light and standing in front of me was a man
.
He was tall, probably six and a half feet
.
He had blond
e
hair the color of hay and blue eyes the color of summer skies, he was muscled but in a lean way, and he wore armor on his wrists, shins, and a golden chest plate
.
But the most remarkable thing about him was the set of wings that extended from his back; they
were at least ten feet across and made up of a mass of pure white feathers
.

“I see you put my gift to good work.
”
His voice was the same tone I had heard in my head earlier
.

I couldn
’t help but stare. “Yes, thank
…
you,” I stammered
, awed by his presence
.
Finally my mind cleared enough for me to ask, “Who are you?”

“I’m the archangel Michael of course,” he stated with what sounded like amusement in his voice
.
“
I know my brother told you I would come
.
I am the holder of all of heaven
’
s great weapons
and as protector of heaven only I have the ability to yield such power
.
I bestowed upon you my blessing and guidance to help you defeat the Red Horse, the bringer of war.
”

I knew I sounded like a b
roken record but again I said,
“Thank
you.”

Just then I felt Gabriel stir in my lap and my attention shifted from the angel in front of me to the angel in my arms
.
He moaned and coughed
.
“Is he going to be okay?” I asked
.

“This time, yes, but he does not hold his powers of protection that he
once held
.
It is up to you Michelle, to watch over my
brother, take good care of him.
” Michael glanced down at Gabriel’s limp form draped in my lap with what looked like a mix and sadness and regret in his face
.
“I must go before my absence is realized
.
I will see you again Michelle, may
you follow the path laid before you with determination and bravery
.
I hope next time we meet
the outcome
is the same
.
”
And with that he was gone.

I glanced over to where Scarlett had been pinned to the ground
;
the sword and
Scarlett’s
bod
y were gone
.
I glanced down at Gabriel,
he was breathing but still
unconscious
.
I pushed his tangled curls off his forehead
.
In that movement I noticed something on my right forearm
.
There
,
on the inside of my arm
,
was a mark; it was an intricate
,
detailed depiction of a sword
.
It looked like a miniature version of the one I used to kill Scarlett
.
I wiped at the mark but it didn’t
smu
d
g
e
at all, in fact it hurt
.
I continued to stare at my arm in awe; this was going to be hard to hide
.

Chapter 1
3

1 Corinthians 16:13 “Be on your guard; stand firm in faith; be cour
ageous
; be strong.”

I sat there
, cradling
Gabriel’s head
,
for what felt like a lifetime
.
Aside from the unconscious angel in my lap, I was alone with my thoughts
.
When you
’
r
e
living in a pre-apocalyptic world being alone with your thoughts is not necessarily a good thing
.
If I wasn’t crazy and this was real, and my God it seemed real, then I had just killed someone
.
At least
,
I think it wa
s a
someone,
do the minions of h
ell count as someone’s
?
All the same
,
I knew killing was against one of the
Ten Commandments
, and one of the big ones at that
.
How was this heaven
’
s plan for me
?
“
Your Honor, I know I shouldn’t have killed those people, but God told me to do it
.
”
Yup, I could be the next Son of Sam but instead of the neighbor
’s
dog talking to me it was the archangel Michael in my head
.
Wow
,
my very own Crusades right here in Shady Lane, New Jersey
.

             
I don’t know how long I sat there with these thoughts, but finally Gabriel moved
.
He rolled to his side, with his head still in my lap
,
and threw-up blood all over the ground at my feet
.
I found myself patting his back, just like my mother use
d to do when I was little. F
or whatever reason my automatic reaction made me want to run home and wrap my arms around my mother and thank her for all she’s been through
.
All the sleepless nights, all the handholding, and all the protection she’s provided over the
years that I had taken for gran
te
d
.
I snapped back to reality as Gabriel attempted to sit up
.
I noticed a black and blue ring around this throat
as he sat up
.
Somehow Scarlett had been cho
king him, but why him and not me
?

“Seems as if I missed the party,
” Gabriel forced out in a hoarse voice
.

“Don’t worry, I saved you a piece of cake,” I joked
.
Probably not the best time to joke, but I was just so happy that he was awake
.

             
“Some guardian I am, knocked out before the fi
ght even really begins,” he cho
ked out while rubbing his neck
.

I didn’t want to argue, but I knew he was beating himself up about what had happened
.
“You’re not my guardian
,
remember
?
Y
ou’re the voice of God, you
’
r
e
he
r
e
to make sure I know what I’m up against, not to fight it for me.
”

             
He paused and looked at me then
.
I couldn’t read the expression on his face, and I started to worry that I had crossed a line
.
“You’re right,” he finally said
.
“It
’
s just hard to stand on the sidelines and not intervene.
”

I
couldn’t help but laugh at that. “
Kinda
what got you into this mess in the first place
,
isn’t it
?
Not being able to stand on the sidelines and watch.”

Gabriel cho
ked out a laugh
as well.
“Who said an
gels don’t have character flaws?
”

With that I helped him stand and we started to leave the football field
.
We made our way towards the front gate
.
He suddenly stopped, and I thought
he needed to sit back down
,
but instead he bent down and picked something up
.
“I think you’ll be needing this,” he said
,
as he held something out to me
.
It was my cross, the one that Scarlett had ripped from around my neck
.
The chain was broken, so I shoved it into my jeans pocket to fix later
.
As we wal
ked from the field with his arm
slung over my shoulder he fell silent
.
I could tell he was somewhere else deep in thought, and I had already had enough soul searching for one night
.
I interrupted his thoughts, “So I met your brother.
”

“Hmm, o
h right
.
Yes, I’m disappointed I missed Michael
.
I would have liked to see him.
”

“He’s,
uhh
…
tall
.
The wings were pretty impressive, but they must get in the way
.
As clumsy as I am
,
I would probably s
lam them in a door or something.
” I was rambling and I didn’t know why
.

“You get use
d
to them
, but it t
akes longer getting use
d
to not having them.”

Wow, I sure know how to poke a bruise.
“Is that what your wings
look
ed
like?
”
I couldn’t help it
,
I had to ask
.

“No.
” I thought that was all the answer I was going to get
.
“Mine w
ere more of a gray color
.
Not the pure white of Michael’s wings.
”

I couldn’t help but think of his beautiful gray eyes, and how ethereal he must have looked with wings that matched
.

We reached his house and began climbing the stairs to the front porch
.
I helped him inside, and he dropped down onto the sofa in the living room
.
He cleared his throat again and automatically rubbed the bruise on his neck
.
I reached out to move his shirt collar and look at how bad the bruise really was, but I reached out with my right arm and Gabriel grabbed my wrist flipping my arm over
.
I had completely forgotten about the mark, aside from the dull pain that still radiated off of it
.

“You’ve been marked.
”
It was a statement, not a question
.
I didn’t know what to say
.

“It appeared after I used the sword to kill Scarlett,” was all I
could think to say
.

“It’s a mark of battle
.
It’s a sign that you have fought for heaven and won
.
You should be proud of this mark.
”

“Is it permanent
?
Because whether or not I should be pro
ud of it, my dad is going to lo
se his shit if he sees it.
”

“I’m afraid so,” was his response.

“Well
,
I always wanted a tattoo
.
Not what I would have chosen, and
defin
i
t
e
ly not the place I would have put it
.
At least it
’
s cold enough out to wear long sleeves for a while.
”
A sword tattooed on my forearm
.
That was definitely not what your normal seventeen-year-old girl got tattooed, but I was beginning to realize I was anything but normal
.
“I really should go,” I blurted
.
“I never came home from school today, my parents might be worried.
”
I got up from the sofa and
began moving towards the door. For some reason, that was a mystery to me, I felt an overwhelming urge to get out of the claustrophobic house.